Chapter Fifteen July #2
“On the Bay? Sick!” Young Greg said. “Y’all doing fireworks?”
“Yep,” Mags said with a glint in his eyes. “I’m making the drive up to PA before I head there.”
“Score,” Lexi said. “I’m in.”
“You will not touch the fireworks,” Mags said. “You can’t handle a fucking tape-to-tape pass; I’m not letting you near explosives. I don’t even trust you to carry my sticks.”
Lexi went red. “It’s not tape-to-tape if it’s going two miles an hour. My grandma could pick that pass—”
Mags cut him off. “I’ll send you guys the address in the chat. Remember: anything you wanna drink other than water and iced tea, bring it yourselves. No house-warming gifts. Rosie already got pissed when we tried to get her a plant for her garden.”
“Because she kills plants?” Donno asked knowingly.
“No, because we apparently got a plant that requires a different pH level than what she has to work with and we were clearly setting her up for failure.” Mags shrugged at the shocked looks everyone gave him. “She takes things pretty seriously. So no gifts other than alcohol.”
“Alcohol, check,” Brady said with a nod. “We can handle that.”
“Ain’t the Fourth of July without it,” Mags said. “Significant others, kids, and friends are welcome. She’s got like ten acres, tents, cornhole, all the good shit. Bring a towel if you wanna swim or anything.”
“She has a pool?” Guy asked with surprise.
“Swim in the Bay,” Mags clarified. “It might be a little chilly, but the water ain’t half bad.”
“Oh,” Guy said with a neutral tone and a disapproving expression.
“Guess they didn’t swim in bays up in Quebec?”
Guy wrinkled his nose. “We do not swim in water, we play hockey on it. That is I think why we beat you in the Olympics, no?”
The locker room filled with boos, and half of them flung rolled-up balls of tape at him. He smiled gleefully (and caught or deflected every piece).
*
“You going to Mags’s thing?” Brady asked when they were out in the parking lot and more-or-less alone. Other people filtered in and out of the rink, but they were parked far enough away from the entrance that it gave the illusion of privacy.
“May as well. It’s either that or buy some sparklers and drink on my porch.” Nick dumped his hockey bag in his trunk, punching a lumpy end to make it fit better.
“That’s seriously your only other option?”
He looked Brady up and down as he slammed the trunk shut. “I mean, maybe not the only other option.”
Brady rolled his eyes fondly. “Get your head out of the gutter.”
As much as Nick wanted to keep teasing, he let it go. “You saying you wanna go?”
“Yeah. Kind of miss watching fireworks on the water.”
“Okay. Let’s go.” He licked his lips, wondering if this was really the time to say more. “Hey, are we—? Should we, uh—?” He saw Brady tense, arms rigid, his hands balling into fists in his pockets, and immediately changed course. “You coming over tonight?”
Brady relaxed. “Yeah, just gotta drop my gear off and shower.”
“Funny thing, though—I have a place for hockey gear at home, and a shower.”
Brady snorted. “Yeah, but I’ve got a gear dryer.”
“Sold. We’ll go to your place.”
Brady laughed. “All right. Guess we can do that.”
*
“Nickolas Jakob Porter, how dare you not come to me with this breaking news?”
Nick winced into his phone. He’d thought he’d put this conversation off for at least another week. “Hi. I’m fine, Jenna. Thanks for asking.”
“I can’t believe I have to find this stuff out from Terry’s girlfriend—of all people!—instead of from my own cousin! Look at the sentence I just said! As if ‘Terry’s girlfriend’ isn’t surprising enough!”
“Yeah, life’s strange like that.”
He switched the phone to speaker so he could read his messages. He double-checked the address and time they’d gotten from Mags, then switched to his conversation with Brady.
Brady (12:08 p.m.)
mags says two when you going?
“So what is this thing with you and hockey boy? You guys friends-with-benefits or boyfriends? Is this an ongoing thing or a summer fling? Not sure if Canadian road trips are normal summer romance fodder, but maybe for hockey players they are?”
Jenna went on and on, and he let her so he could type.
Nick (12:19 p.m.)
prbly closer to 3 still gotta swing by the liquor store before they close he was just a convenient excuse.
“Probably the same party. Think most of the team is going.”
“No fair. When you gonna set me up with a guy on your team? Some of them presumably look decent under their helmets.”
“Unless you want to date a twenty-year-old, I think everyone on the team’s accounted for.”
“Boo.”
“You could come too. Brady’ll be there, so you can spy for yourself instead of bribing Gail to do it.”
“Gail works pro bono. I tip her with mojitos.”
“Mojitos? Really? Seems more like a hard-liquor kind of gal.”
“Right? Anyway, I do actually have plans to go to the Lakefront with some friends. The bottle rockets were for the after-party. Have fun with your man candy. I’m coming over for dinner next week so we can have an actual face-to-face conversation about this.
You’ve been crushing on this man for literal months, I demand updates. ”
“You’ll get your updates,” Nick promised.
“This is also your fair warning that I’m going to ask questions that you’re not going to like if you haven’t had an actual conversation with Brady about your relationship status.”
Nick sighed dramatically. “Oh, I know. Trust me, I’m trying to have the conversation, but I don’t want him to freak out and shut down like he did in PA.”
“Oh geez, you really haven’t had The Talk yet? I thought I was kidding.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Well, I hoped I was.”
“Uh huh.” His phone vibrated. “Look, I gotta go.”
“Dinner on Wednesday. I’ll bring the dinner; you’re in charge of dessert.”
“ ’kay. See ya.”
He barely heard Jenna’s grumpy “Love you, too” before he ended the call so he could switch messages.
Brady (12:26 p.m.)
should prbly drive separate
He rubbed a hand over his face, made note of the stubble there, and tried not to read too much into Brady’s reply.
Still Brady. Slow and steady and all that.
“Maybe in another year,” he grumped, then gave up on the pity party. It was too soon to be tired of whatever it was they were doing together.
Nick (12:31 p.m.)
cool see you in a bit
*
The chair groaned as Nick’s weight settled into it. He’d be more worried if they were actually on the dock or if his ass were more than a half foot off the ground. All he really had to risk was the rickety chair breaking and the slight embarrassment that would go along with it.
Considering this was the only free chair and the only place where he could sit next to Brady, he was more than willing to take that chance.
“Beer?” He offered the two bottles and was unsurprised when Brady took the Yuengling. Despite his claims that he loved IPAs, he was a good Pittsburgh boy, and it was adorable.
Nick smiled, glad that he could finally give free rein to thoughts like that.
They clinked their bottles together and took long drinks.
“Truth or dare?” Nick asked without preamble. He’d thought about this a lot as they stood in the party crowd, and now that they were alone, he wanted to make some headway.
Brady groaned. “I’m not jumping into the fucking river, so truth.”
“Boooring,” Nick lied. “What’d you first think of me when I joined the team?”
“You mean when I met you in the lobby and you didn’t even know how to sign in?” Brady worried at his bottom lip. “You really want me to answer that?”
He’d briefly worried that Brady didn’t remember their first meeting; he was pleasantly surprised to learn that he’d made an impression.
“I asked, didn’t I?”
Brady huffed in annoyance and nearly strangled the bottle of beer before he answered.
“I thought you were a disaster and I hoped you weren’t on my team because I didn’t want to have to play with someone who sucked and wouldn’t listen to criticism.
I’ve been on enough teams with guys like that; didn’t want to do it again. ”
That was… disappointing, but it made sense. Not like he’d thought much of Brady at the time, either. “Is that why you were such a grump and wouldn’t give me the time of day?”
“I was not a grump—”
“It was like a whole month before I even saw you smile!”